A Terribly Brief Synopsis of The 50th Anniversary Surprise Minisode "The Night of The Doctor"

Sylvester McCoy Knows Who Will Be The New Master, "He'll Be Very Scary"

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Doctor Who Spoilers (three words that always make me smile) just posted about the following tweet from their resident reviewer Brett Devenish who is currently at the Newcastle Film & Comic Con, where he & a couple hundred other folks in attendance got the opportunity to hear Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy seemingly "accidentally confirm" a circulating rumour about the return of The Master in series 8 without actually getting too specific about it (there's a lot of when it comes to Doctor Who, isn't there?):

Of course, its all teaser. Isn't everything between series? With no name, it doesn't confirm earlier rumours, but it does give us the opportunity to ask ourselves who exactly would Sylvester McCoy find "very scary" in the role of The Master?

A Groovy Review: The Twin Dilemma

The four-part serial originally aired  between March 22nd & March 30th, 1984

You might call me "odd" (and very probably rightly so) but I have a particular way that I like to watch classic Doctor Who: I prefer to jump between Doctors, watching a story (and sometimes just one or two parts of a story) at a time. While this out-of-orderness might, to some, seem like it would detract from fully experiencing the longer story arcs in the series, it doesn't lessen my understanding or enjoyment of any aspect. Rather I feel it keeps me from getting far too attached to one particular incarnation or judging what might be considered a lesser story harsher due to what might very well be far better stories that surround it in natural order. Besides, when your main character lives his life jumping sporadically throughout time & space, this method of watching sort of gives me a similar feeling.

Now, I have already watched a rather large selection of classic Who stories. However, one of my intentions behind this blog is to watch & review every episode of Doctor Who, from The First Doctor to the newly anointed Twelfth Doctor, as well as the various book series & Big Finish audio dramas. Sound like a Herculean task? Well, I know I'm not the first to do this sort of thing, and likely won't be the last either, but I figured why not combine two of my favorite pastimes: indulging my appreciation of Doctor Who in all its forms & writing words most folks probably won't read anyway.

Which brings us to the first Sixth Doctor serial The Twin Dilemma.

"Ah. A noble brow. A clear gaze. At least it will be, given a few hours sleep. A firm mouth. A face beaming with vast intelligence. My dear child, what on Earth are you complaining about? It's the most extraordinary improvement."

Colin Baker's first serial as The Sixth Doctor (after briefly appearing during the final moments of the preceding The Caves of Androzani) is generally labelled as one of the worst, if not the worst, serial in the show's long history. Russell T Davies went so far as to call it "the beginning of the end" for the classic series, while a review in Doctor Who: The Television Companion stated it was "painful to watch" & suffered from "a rather tacky, B-movie feel". This sort of talk always intrigues me & piques my curiosity about the alleged awfulness of the accused perpetrator.

A Somewhat Brief Synopsis:
The Doctor has just regenerated due to spectrox poisoning, after giving the last of the antidote to his companion, Peri Brown. (The Caves of Androzani).The brash & arrogant personality that emerges with his new face is immediately off-putting to Peri, who is still in shock after witnessing his regeneration. Equally disturbing to her are the strange side-effects The Doctor experiences: misplaced memories, a seemingly claustrophobic fit, the choosing of a garish new outfit, even trying to strangle her after accusing that she is an alien spy. In a moment of clarity, The Doctor declares that, due to his erratic & unstable behavior, he will make himself a hermit, with Peri as his "disciple", on the desolate asteroid Titan 3 for however long it takes him to regain control of himself, stating:

"I am a living peril to the universe. If this poor hive is to be cleansed, there's only one recourse. Contemplation. Self-abnegation in some hellish wilderness. Ten days, ten years, a thousand years! Of what consequence is time to me?"

Upon arriving on Titan 3, The Doctor & Peri witness a spacecraft crash & bring the unconscious survivor on to the TARDIS. Onboard, the survivor mutters about ships, squadrons & children before regaining consciousness and accusing The Doctor off destroying his squadron, drawing a gun. After the man quickly collapses again, Peri has to convince a terrified Doctor to help him. He only decides to do so after a look at the man's ID badge names him "Lieutenant Hugo Lang, Interplanetary Pursuit, 'A' Squadron" & after Peri has hidden the power-pack from the man's gun. After seeing to Lang's injuries, The Doctor recalls his muttering about "children" & decides to scan the planet surface, discovering a nearby building which seems out of place on an uninhabited asteroid. Leaving a still unconscious Lang on the TARDIS, The Doctor & Peri set off to investigate despite a high radiation level on the surface:


The Doctor: What's a little radiation when we have a purpose, a mission in life?
Peri: Silly me. What's a little radiation sickness between friends.

Entering a tunnel that may lead to the building, The Doctor & Peri encounter two armed aliens and are brought before an old man calling himself Professor Edgeworth. After brief conversation, The Doctor recognizes Edgeworth as an old friend & Time Lord named Azmael, master of the planet Jaconda. Then enter twin boys, named Romulus & Remus, and The Doctor quickly pieces together that these are the children Lang had mentioned & that Azmael has kidnapped them (the actual events of this happening have already been shown as I have only been summarizing The Doctor's perspective). He also suspects his old friend might be in some sort of trouble, to which the master of Jaconda replies,  Let this at least be clear, Doctor. I am no longer Master of Jaconda, but I can still save my people. I will do so, whatever the cost, even the price of friendship. You were always full of good intentions, Doctor. I cannot risk you interfering now." Azmael then locks The Doctor & Peri in the room, informing him that there are "ten million million combinations" and that after his departure "the transmat will become random. Try to use it and your remains will be spread across the surface of this miserable rock".

The Doctor is confident he can figure out the combination to the lock in "a few days at most", but Peri discovers that one of the two aliens had, without Azmael's knowledge, set in motion a self-destruct mechanism that had a terribly unfortunate No Cancel Function. Improvising with a revitalizing modulator, The Doctor is able to create a temporary way to teleport them to safety back in the TARDIS, using Peri's watch to set the controls. She makes a successful trip back, but The Doctor is delayed when Peri's watch stops & she thinks he perishes when the self-destruct goes off & the building explodes. When he manages his own return, he is surprised by Peri's sadness at the thought he had died:

The Doctor: You know, I'll never understand the people of Earth. I have spent the day using, abusing, even trying to kill you. If you'd have behaved as I have, I should have been pleased at your demise. 
Peri:  It's called compassion, Doctor. It's the difference that remains between us. 
The Doctor: Earthlings.


Deducing that Azmael has taken Romulus & Remus to Jaconda, he & Peri arrive there in the TARDIS only to discover that the once beautiful planet has been reduced to a wasteland that is covered in slime trails The Doctor states belong to half-human, half-slug creatures from Jacondan mythology called Gastropods. Meanwhile, Azmael tells the twins why he has kidnapped them: he has been usurped as master of Jaconda by a Gastropod named Mestor, who insists the only hope of growing enough food to feed the surviving Jacondans is to bring two nearby planets closer into Jaconda's orbit. He needs the twins, who are mathematical geniuses, to complete the equations to stabilize the planet's orbits. The Doctor, after learning of the plan, is captured (along with Peri) & given an audience with Mestor, where he convinces the Gastropod to let him assist Azmael, as a single mistake would mean catastrophe:

"Well, moving planets around is not for amateurs, you know. I mean, the twins may have the mathematical skills, but I have the empirical knowledge. The practical experience that can guarantee success. I mean, one tiny error in your calculations, the planets you're trying to shift could fly off in any direction." 

Back in the laboratory, Azmael reveals that the plan will be accomplished using time travel technology that Mestor stole from him. The Doctor points out that the two planets they plan on moving are two small to maintain orbit this close to their sun & will eventually fall into it, causing a devastating cosmic explosion. After examining some gastropod eggs in a nearby hatchery & finding their shells to be impenetrable yet slightly reactive to heat, The Doctor realizes that true goal of Mestor's plan IS to blow up Jaconda's sun & scatter the eggs across the universe to hatch & conquer all known worlds. Sending the twins back to the TARDIS with Peri & Lang, The Doctor & Azmael confront Mestor. In an attempt to threaten The Doctor after he tries to kills the Gastropod with a vial of acid, Mestor ends up possessing the mind of Azmael, who manages to hold him there while The Doctor destroys his body with a second acid vial. Azmael then forces himself to regenerate but since he was on his last regeneration, he basically commits suicide to destroy Mestor as he knew The Doctor would be unable to handle the Gastropod's mind invasion. Before he dies, his gives his royal ring of Jaconda to The Doctor, telling him that one of his greatest memories was a night they had spent getting drunk by a fountain.

Back in the TARDIS, The Doctor offers to return the twins home while Lang decides to remain on Jaconda to assist with rebuilding. The Doctor gives him Azmael's ring & departs without saying goodbye. When Peri expresses irritation & suggests The Doctor takes a "crash course in manners", he reminds her that he is an alien & is "bound to different values & customs" before delivering the final line of the episode, a very fitting remark:

"Whatever else happens, I am the Doctor, whether you like it or not."

My Thoughts:
I am honestly baffled that this is considered one of the worst serials because I found it rather entertaining. Colin Baker's grandiloquent take on The Doctor, which I am told he had very little say in, is amusing & fascinating to watch. While the serial did seem to take awhile to set up, leaving you with interspersed segments that really only added up somewhat when you learned of the reason behind the kidnapping of Romulus & Remus, I wouldn't say it was a weak story so much as possibly just an under-developed one. Better pacing, perhaps spread out over an additional episode or two, could have served it better by giving it a little more time for characterization & some helpful back-story or exposition. However, if this is truly among the bottom of the barrel when it comes to classic era Who, then at least I know that I still absolutely love this show when its far from its best. Or perhaps I just love really cheesy sci-fi effects & costumes & television shows. It's a toss-up.

The Sixth Doctor is certainly a jarring character (especially after the "feckless charm" of Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor) and the sort of drastic personality change was, in my opinion, a genius choice. I mean, David Tennant's Tenth Doctor was a bit of an asshole during his third series, but that was built on a sense of loss, not the seeming bombastic overconfidence that Six displays. When speculating about who would replace Matt Smith when he announced he was leaving the current run of Doctor Who last summer, I suggested that Hugh Laurie would make a great Doctor & was told by a friend of mine that Dr. Gregory House had already been manifested in this incarnation. I feel that was rather an appropriate appraisal of The Sixth Doctor.

And how could anyone hate that coat?

[Here's a transcript of The Twin Dilemma]

Alice X Zhang's Artwork For New Titan Comics 'Doctor Who' Series Revealed

Artwork by Alice X. Zhang

Titan Comics, partnered with BBC Worldwide, will be releasing three new comic series featuring new adventures of the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctors. Two of the series, 'Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor' & 'Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor', will hit the shelves this summer while details concerning The Twefth Doctor series will be available sometime around Peter Capaldi's debut in Series 8 of the television show later this year (expected to be sometime in August). The cover artwork for the first two series (and the third as well, I hope) is by Alice X. Zhang, who is already responsible for some of my favorite Doctor Who artwork, featured below.

"The Parting of the Ways"

"The Turn of the Universe"

"The Roar of Our Stars"

"The Lonely God"

Charles Dance "Confirmed" As New Master But Then Again It Is The Internet

This certainly isn't new to the Doctor Who Rumor Mill but it is an idea that I support a couple hundred percent. It seems that there are murmurs regarding a return of perennial arch-nemesis The Master in the upcoming series of Doctor Who & while there are, as one would expect, a number of names & faces being tossed into the mix of possible actors to take up the helm of what is essentially The Doctor's Evil Twin (not to disregard The Valeyard, who may actually fit that designation a little better), the one that stands out the most is Charles Dance. While most recently recognized as Tywin Lannister from HBO's Game of Thrones, Dance has a impressive acting resume under his belt, which includes the villainous Benedict from the 1993 Arnold Schwarzenegger action/comedy/belly-flop Last Action Hero (something I only mention because its the first time I personally remember seeing him in any role).

The following picture made the rounds in late January, seeming to "accidentally confirm" Dance in the role...

The picture depicts an alleged tweet mistakenly tweeted then quickly deleted (say that 10 times fast) by the Doctor Who Official twitter account which contained the file names of four promo pictures, two of which were "S8PromoMaster1Simm.jpg" & "S8PromoMasterDanceRegen.jpg". The first of these references John Simm, who played The Master from 2007 to 2010, while the second suggests its a picture of Simm regenerating into Dance. It makes sense that, should The Master return, we very well might be treated to a brief return of John Simm, who disappeared into the Time Lock with Rassilon in the Tenth Doctor's final story "The End of Time" in 2010. With an actor of Peter Capaldi's caliber stepping into the role of The Doctor, Simm's take on The Master doesn't seem a proper fit (it was certainly a product of the Davies' era) & its fairly easy to imagine Capaldi & Dance squaring off against each other. I mean, its quite possible the room would explode with all the high-quality acting.

I am more leaning towards the above picture being a fake, but only because the mistake seems such an odd one to make (as in, its hard to imagine what someone would be doing that would cause them to accidentally paste 4 filenames into a tweet & then, equally accidentally, publish that tweet) while, at the same time, being an easy way for someone who would be likely to pull a Photoshop to offer "proof" without actually having to come up with any actual "proof". It seems, as always, only time will tell.

Russell T Davies Had A 'Big Old Plan' For Peter Capaldi Long Before He Became The Twelfth Doctor

Peter Capaldi as Lucius Caecilius Iucundus in Doctor Who series 4 episode "The Fires of Pompeii"

All the way back in the ancient, forgotten days of September 2013, Steven Moffat, in an interview with Nerd3, had this to say about Peter Capaldi already having played two separate roles in two different TV shows set in the ever-contradicting Whoniverse:

"We are aware that Peter Capaldi’s played a part in Doctor Who before and we’re not going to ignore the fact. I’ll let you in on this. I remember Russell told me he had a big old plan as to why there were two Peter Capaldis in the Who universe, one in Pompeii and one in Torchwood. When I cast Peter, Russell got in touch to say how pleased he was, I said 'Okay, what was your theory and does it still work?' and he said 'Yes it does, here it is'. So I don’t know if we’ll get to it… we’ll play that one out over time. It’s actually quite neat".

Moffat, who certainly has his own fair share of big old plans (for instance, the return of Gallifrey), didn't necessarily rule out adapting Davies' plan into his own vision but, at the same time, it doesn't seem likely he'll tap it unless he finds a way for the idea (whatever it may be) to interlock well with his own Doctor Who continuity puzzle. He did, however, have a few more thoughts regarding how The Doctor's new face gets internally settled on during regenerations:

"The big fun question is, we know that the Doctor when he regenerates, the faces, it’s not set from birth, it’s not that he was always going to be one day Peter Capaldi. We know that’s the case because in The War Games [from The Second Doctor era] he has a choice of face and all that. We know it’s not set so where does he get those faces from? They can’t just be randomly generated because they’ve got lines and they’ve aged. When he turns into Peter he’ll actually have lines on his face (sorry Peter) so where did that face come from?"

"Adventure Has A New Face"

Photo credit: Umbridge1986